We appreciate the enormous support that our ABestWeb community has experienced over the many years it has served its members and sponsors. We have decided to exit this business and have placed the property up for sale and we are actively entertaining interest.

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I have not built a website
I heard about html, web editors such as Dreamweaver and FP and undertand that templates from such widely used sites such as templatemonster.com may be ideal for a budding web designer

Am i able to build an AFF site in that context...and take advantage of SEO basics....as I have been also obtaining information from searchenginewatch.com

Even if you are going to use Frontpage, Dreamweaver, or similar programs, you should still learn HTML. You will need to be at least familiar enough with it to know how to alter clunky link code output provided by some networks/programs.

There is a very good tutorial at htmlgoodies.com. You can grab a simple template at freesitetemplates.com to examine, pick apart, and experiment with; IMO it's easier to "see" and understand how HTML works if you are messing around with a complete pre-existing page layout while you're learning.

I would say if you are in this for the long hall, stay away from templetes or at least customize the ones you have a lot. Your website is essentially your business online. If you are using a templete, there is someone else out there with a business that looks a lot like yours. Why look the same? Customize!

You need both! I don't put much stock in FP but I use Dreamweaver all the time. It is a visual editor that writes the HTML for you. However, these programs don't write perfect HTML and they can't do everything you might want them to do. My current web design procedure is a combination of editing using the mouse and writing the code by hand. However, you can start easy. I'd suggest starting with making a site in FP and Dreamweaver and learn what code you need as you go. Learn basic HTML and CSS first, and then you should be on your way. There are a ton of basic tutorials free, just search on google for "learn HTML" or the like.

No problem! Take it slow. You don't need to be an HTML expert to make your first website. But don't be afraid to learn something new when you need it. Google is your best friend here, there are tons of great free resources out there for you.

FrontPage is a nice tool for starting out. As you work with it, try to do as much as possible with the html code. Perhaps do one site with FrontPage. BIG Hint: Use Server Side Includes to reproduce repeated tables from page to page - this is perhaps the biggest worksaver a "newbie" can use. These are not hard to use, even for a beginner. For example, to include a block of code that produces your top menu, cut and paste the code from that chunk of html into a text file topmenu.txt and then place <!--#include file="topmenu.txt" --> where the chunk of code should go. Now, if you need to change that top menu on all your 150 pages, you only need to make a change in 1 file rather than 150 files. You may need to enable what is called an "apache handler" on your server - this is easy to do - just contact your host support on how to do it.

My first site was a monstrosity - it sends shivers up my spine whenever I think about its design since it was designed so poorly with so many different format pages, it is a lost cause. It still makes me $10 a day so I guess I will leave it alone. It's the ugly monster in the closet that slides $10 bills under the door on a daily basis.

Design your site with the idea that you may want to do major modifications in the future. After a few sites, you may wish to get into better site design. SitePoint has a book, "Build Your Website The Right Way". CSS is really the way to go.

I have not tried Dreamweaver but I am yet to hear anybody say bad things about it. It is a bit pricey and I believe a little tougher for a beginner to jump into.

This World is Not My HomeWe're gonna go inside, we're gonna go outside, inside and outside. . . And then we're gonna go go go and we're not gonna stop til we get across that goalline! Quotes from the movie Rudy, 1993